The first stage of the Tour Down Under 2025 was won by Sam Welsford (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe). Repeating last year’s performance, the Australian won the sprint, after 150.7 kilometers between Prospect and Gumeracha.
The oceanic sprinter was faster in the bunch, beating the British Matthew Brennan (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Matthew Walls (Groupama-FDJ), second and third, respectively.
As for the Colombians, the best was Esteban Chaves (EF Education – EasyPost) in 30th place, followed by Diego Pescador (Movistar Team) in 43rd place, and finally Sergio Higuita (XDS Astana Team) in 63rd place, all three with the same time as the winner.
The breakaway of the day was led by Frenchman Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) and the two Australians Zac Marriage and Fergus Browning, but with less than 30 kilometers to go they were all caught by the peloton.
In the fast finish, Sam Welsford responded to his team’s work and took the win, just as he did last year. The Australian leads the overall standings by four seconds over Britain’s Matthew Brennan (Team Visma | Lease a Bike).
The first World Tour race of the year will continue on Australian soil this Tuesday with an undulating 128.8-kilometer stage around Tanunda, which includes three first-category mountain prizes.
Santos Tour Down Under 2025
Results Stage 1 | Prospect -> Gumeracha (150,7 km)
| 1 | Sam Welsford | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | 3:26:38 |
| 2 | Matthew Brennan | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | m.t. |
| 3 | Matthew Walls | Groupama-FDJ | m.t. |
| 4 | Tim Torn Teutenberg | Lidl-Trek | m.t. |
| 5 | Ben Swift | INEOS Grenadiers | m.t. |
| 6 | Simon Dehairs | Alpecin-Deceuninck | m.t. |
| 7 | Corbin Strong | Israel-Premier Tech | m.t. |
| 8 | Rui Oliveira | UAE Team Emirates XRG | m.t. |
| 9 | Phil Bauhaus | Bahrain Victorious | m.t. |
| 10 | Jacopo Mosca | Lidl-Trek | m.t. |